Plasma-Wakefield Accelerator Group

Abstract:

The phase retrieval problem occurs in a number of areas in physics and is the subject of continuing investigation. The one-dimensional case, e.g., the reconstruction of the temporal profile of a charged particle bunch, is particularly challenging and important for particle accelerators. Accurate knowledge of the longitudinal (time) profile of the bunch is important in the context of linear colliders, wakefield accelerators and for the next generation of light sources, including x-ray SASE FELs. Frequently applied methods, e.g., minimal phase retrieval or other iterative algorithms, are reliable if the Blaschke phase contribution is negligible. This, however, is neither known a priori nor can it be assumed to apply to an arbitrary bunch profile. We present a novel approach which gives reproducible, most-probable and stable reconstructions for bunch profiles (both artificial and experimental) that would otherwise remain unresolved by the existing techniques.

Abstract:

In multi-pulse laser wakefield acceleration (MP-LWFA) a plasma wave is driven by a train of low-energy laser pulses separated by the plasma period, an approach which offers a route to driving plasma accelerators with high efficiency and at high pulse repetition rates using emerging technologies such as fibre and thin-disk lasers. Whilst these laser technologies are in development, proof-of-principle tests of MP-LWFA require a pulse train to be generated from a single, high-energy ultrafast pulse. Here we demonstrate the generation of trains of up to 7 pulses with pulse separations in the range 150–170 fs from single 40 fs pulses produced by a Ti:sapphire laser.

Abstract:

Production of exclusive dijets in diffractive deep inelastic e±p scattering has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 372 pb-1. The measurement was performed for γ∗–p centre-of-mass energies in the range 9025GeV2. Energy flows around the jet axis are presented. The cross section is presented as a function of β and ϕ, where β=x/xIP, x is the Bjorken variable and xIP is the proton fractional longitudinal momentum loss. The angle ϕ is defined by the γ∗–dijet plane and the γ∗–e± plane in the rest frame of the diffractive final state. The ϕ cross section is measured in bins of β. The results are compared to predictions from models based on different assumptions about the nature of the diffractive exchange.